WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government said on Wednesday it had shut down an e-mail scam that promised free video-game consoles but instead delivered a connection to a pornographic Web site that charged $3.99 per minute.

According to the FTC, Internet users received an e-mail message saying they had won a Sony PlayStation 2 in a sweepstakes contest sponsored by Web portal Yahoo Inc YHOO.O . Those who responded to the message were directed to a bogus Yahoo page that instructed them to download a program that would allow them to claim the prize.

The program then connected them to a pornographic Web page that secretly charged them $3.99 per minute through a 1-900 telephone line, the FTC said.

"This case involves 'bait and switch' of the worst kind," said Howard Beales, head of the FTC's consumer-protection division. "The spammers promised a product that's particularly attractive to kids. They delivered a product that's offensive to many adults, and totally inappropriate for kids."

A Nevada court has temporarily shut down the operation and frozen its assets pending a preliminary hearing next Monday, the FTC said.

The consumer-protection agency will seek to recover the $11 million that the operation took in between May and December of last year, Beales said. Some of that money has already been refunded by AT&T Corp T.N ., which administered the 1-900 numbers, an FTC official said.

If consumers had bothered to read a densely written, eight-page disclosure form, they would have learned that they would be charged for participation, Beales said.

But the operators were still guilty of deception because they made conflicting claims in larger type, he said.

"The terms and conditions say, 'Never mind that offer, everything we've told you is a lie,' and that's not an acceptable way to do business," Beales said.

The complaint was filed on March 27, as part of a broader, international enforcement effort against a wide range of Internet scams. The seal on the complaint was lifted on April 22.

Named in the complaint were: Rik Covell and Adam Lewis, doing business as BTV Industries; National Communications Team Inc.; LO/AD Communications Corp.; and Nicholas Loader.

An attorney for the defendants has not yet stepped forward, the FTC said.